Chapter 8 Paying The Price

• “Are you her family members?” At that moment, the middle-aged man in a suit approached, his face stern. “Since you're all here, you might as well come with us. I suspect you're part of a theft ring, stealing other people's bank cards. Please cooperate with our investigation.”
• “Who are you?” Dominic suddenly asked.
• “I'm Anthony Rhodes, the lobby manager of this bank,” the other party declared with an air of arrogance.
• Being able to serve as the lobby manager of this branch at such a young age, Anthony Rhodes had every reason to be proud. After all, he was more accomplished than ninety percent of his peers.
• Nodding, Dominic pointed at Janet and asked, “Are you suggesting that she stole someone else's bank card?”
• Upon hearing the words of the lobby manager, Dominic already knew that the trouble was caused by the bank card he had given to Janet.
• “That's right. It's this card,” Anthony said, pulling out a black card and smirking.
• “That card is mine,” Dominic stated nonchalantly.
• “What did you say?” Anthony was taken aback, momentarily unable to respond.
• “That card is mine. I gave it to her to use. Is there an issue?” Dominic asked.
• Ethan and Marisol were both taken aback.
• They took a moment to size up Dominic, recognizing that the man indeed had an impressive air about him. However, upon further thought, they realized that he was still so young, barely in his twenties. How could he possibly possess a card of such high caliber?
• At that moment, Marisol scoffed. “Mr. Rhodes, don't listen to his nonsense. He's lying. They must have stolen this card.”
• “That's right. It has to be so. Mr. Rhodes, allow me to apprehend them all,” Ethan quickly chimed in.
• Anthony furrowed his brows. “You claim this card is yours. Do you have any proof?”
• “You'll soon see the proof.”
• After finishing his words, Dominic directly pulled out an old-fashioned Nokia phone from his pocket and dialed a number.
• “William, those cards you insisted I accept back then. Am I no longer entitled to use them or what?” Dominic asked.
• “Lancey, what's wrong? What happened?”
• With a few words, Dominic recounted the course of events.
• “Don't worry,” the other party hastily assured. “I will certainly provide you with a satisfactory response.”
• After Dominic hung up the phone, the furrow in Anthony's brow deepened even more. William? Why do I find that name so familiar?
• On the other hand, Marisol and Ethan both wore smirks of derision.
• They all believed that Dominic was just playing mind games.
• However, it wasn't long before, roughly two minutes or so, Anthony's phone rang.
• As Anthony took it out to look, his posture immediately slumped, his face adopting a fawning expression as he answered the call. “Yes, Mr. Quinlan?”
• Gradually, Anthony's complexion shifted, turning pale, his entire body subtly trembling.
• Cold sweat trickled down from his forehead even more.
• “Right! Yes! I see... I know what to do now,” Anthony responded.
• He then ended the call, and under the watchful eyes of everyone present, he respectfully held out the bank card with both hands, presenting it to Dominic.
• “I'm truly sorry. They made a mistake. This card indeed belongs to you,” Anthony uttered respectfully.
• At that moment, Anthony was deeply frustrated.
• If it weren't for his concern about his image, he would probably be cursing up a storm by then because the branch manager had given him a thorough scolding just a moment ago.
• This situation arose when a call was made from the global headquarters of Aploth Bank to the Aploth headquarters, which was then forwarded to the branch manager of Druobridge. The call concerned an offense made against the most esteemed client of Aploth Bank.
• When Anthony was on the phone, he was nearly scared out of his wits. Wait... William? The guy called someone on the phone named William just now. Could it be William, the Chairman of Aploth Bank's global headquarters? Could it be that this young man is acquainted with such an influential person? Moreover, I was even told to insist he accept the bank card. What's his background?
• However, none of that mattered anymore.
• What mattered then was figuring out how to mitigate the negative repercussions of this incident and ensuring that Dominic would no longer dwell on it.
• Otherwise, his time as a manager would have essentially come to an end.
• Dominic didn't accept the bank card. He casually asked, “Do you believe me now?”
• “I'm sorry. I truly am deeply apologetic...” Anthony said.
• Waving his hand dismissively, Dominic said, “Enough with the chatter. Just tell me, how are you going to rectify this situation?”
• Anthony let out a sigh in his heart, turning his gaze to Janet, and then, unexpectedly, he bent at the waist at a ninety-degree angle. “Madam, I deeply apologize for the misunderstanding caused by our staff's negligence. I'm truly sorry for any discomfort it may have caused you. Please accept my sincere apologies.”
• Janet and Yvonne exchanged glances, momentarily at a loss for words. What's going on here?
• Before Janet and the others could speak, Anthony had already turned to Marisol, his face stern as he declared, “On behalf of the bank, I hereby announce that you are fired.”
• After that, Anthony turned toward Ethan and said, “And as for you, you're fired, effective immediately.”
• As those words fell, both Marisol and Ethan were left dumbfounded. What's going on here? We should have accomplished a great feat, received a promotion and a raise, and reached the pinnacle of our careers! How did we end up getting fired?
• “Mr. Rhodes, we haven't done anything wrong. Why are we being fired?” Marisol became frantic.
• This job was her pride and joy, something she held in high esteem.
• If she were to lose this job, her standing at home would plummet dramatically. In the future, she wouldn't have that sense of superiority in front of her friends anymore.
• Of course, she couldn't accept it.
• “What did you do wrong?” Anthony sneered. “You've slandered this lady, caused her immense emotional distress, and even assaulted her physically. You should all pay for your mistakes.”
• “Is what he said true?” Marisol locked eyes with Ethan, finally understanding what was going on.
• Both of them looked at Dominic in disbelief, their faces filled with astonishment. How could that be possible?
• Judging from Anthony's demeanor, it seemed that this young man before their eyes was indeed the true owner of the card.
• Upon witnessing this scene, Dominic merely waved his hand dismissively. “No need to put on an act in front of me. It's pointless.”
• Pointing at Janet, Dominic said to Marisol, “All right. Now, it's your turn to pay for your mistake.”
• His gaze was icy cold as he looked at Marisol, akin to observing a mere ant.
• Over the years, he had been out in the world, taking countless lives without discrimination, men and women, old and young alike.
• He certainly wouldn't go easy just because Marisol was a woman.
• Marisol had defamed Janet, which led to the latter being assaulted by Ethan. Dominic thought it was only right to ask Marisol to pay the price for her actions.
• The world of adults often tended to be this realistic.
• Marisol suddenly yelled out in a fit of frustration, “I've already been fired! What more do you want?”
• “Well, I want you to slap yourself ten times, and we can consider the matter settled.” With a blank expression on his face, Dominic's gaze was icy cold. “Just a friendly reminder, every slap should be given with full force. Otherwise, I won't hesitate to do it myself.”
• Dominic didn't care if Marisol was fired.
• He was only concerned about the feelings of Yvonne and Janet, and he was determined to settle the scores.